Why we should still be reading Democracy in America
To mark Independence Day, an Australian perspective on why - 180 years on - Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic political text is a must-read.
To mark Independence Day, an Australian perspective on why - 180 years on - Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic political text is a must-read.
Readers interested in the fate of Julian Assange, his bid for a seat in the Australian Senate and the legal and political reasons why he’s still in grave danger of extradition to the United States, might…
In Hong Kong, public tensions are mounting over Beijing’s recent decision to restrict free and fair elections in 2017. A week-long strike by students begins on September 22. The citizens’ initiative Occupy…
The Lee dynasty and their People’s Action Party have ruled Singapore since 1959, but their grip on power has weakened. Opposition leader Chee Soon Juan talks about about his long fight for change.
‘Few Chinese, myself included, really knew what rock 'n roll was back then. But we knew it was something that gave out energy. It was music with a message.’ ‘I performed at Tiananmen Square in 1989, 15…
Welcome to “In Conversation”, the first in a series of discussions between leading academics and major public figures in Australian life. Today Politics Professor John Keane is in conversation with Senator…
Edward Gough Whitlam has passed on, leaving behind millions of citizens saddened by scores of eloquent obituaries reminding us how, once upon a time, Australian politics produced world-class leaders courageously…
Along with contributions by Ulrich Beck, Julia Kristeva and others, the following short statement was published in Politiken, the largest-circulation daily newspaper in Denmark: With a political noose…
Pushed and pulled in different directions by government policies and market forces, modern universities try hard to be public institutions for the public good. Fond of proclamations, their efforts are…
Readers interested in some of the big political ideas and trends of our time may like to listen to a recent talk on the greening of democratic politics. Hosted in Sydney by the newly-founded Institute…
John Keane is co-founder of the Sydney Democracy Network (SDN) and Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney and the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB). His full-scale history of democracy, The…